Diamondbacks Game Preview #72: 6/24 vs. Tigers

Another day, another streaming service. We’ve been through this before, tonight’s contest being the second one for Arizona this season to be available exclusively on Apple TV. So it’s not going to be on Bally Sports Arizona. It is free, and there are no blackouts - so I guess that is, in some ways, an improvement over normal coverage. But it’s still more hoops to jump through. If you didn’t go through the process last time, the basic steps should be the same, with this link giving you the details. If you don’t already have one, you will need to create an Apple ID in order to access the game: here’s how to do that. Fortunately, tonight’s PH recapper is SpencerSpice, who already has one. “Big Ted Lasso fan”, he told me. :)

The stand-in is necessary since Turambar and I are, coincidentally, both visiting in-laws this evening. It’s a bit of a further trek for him than me: I’m just having to go up the road to Peoria, attending a farewell party for the SnakePitSister-in-law, who’s moving out of state. [Not sure to which of the other 49, to be honest. Might be Florida? Fairly sure it’s not Alaska, anyway] Still, I can spin this as me bravely continuing my boycott of this year’s proliferation of streaming services. Though after the way the Padres series went down, it feels like it would not be too difficult to find something better to do on this Friday night. Solitary drinking has its qualities.

Been slightly more than five years since the Tigers last played at Chase Field. That came on May 10th 2017, when the D-backs ran out 7-1 winners. Not one of the D-backs who appeared in the game are currently on the roster, with Nick Ahmed the only one who is still part of the organization. The players who hit home-runs that night for Arizona are, to varying extents, a trifecta of sharp implements to the torso: Ahmed, Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury. Our starting pitcher was Zack Godley, who got the W for seven innings of one-run ball. I just looked up what he was doing - knowing our luck, I was half-expecting him to be a Cy Young candidate in the AL or something.

Turns out he was released by the Reds from his minor-league deal a month ago, and signed to play independent ball with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League. Remarkably, this re-unites Godley with the man who took over from him in relief for the last Tigers game at Chase Field, throwing the final two innings. That would be Randall Delgado, who signed with the Honey Hunters in May. Also on their roster is infielder Jack Reinheimer, who did appear in a couple of games for the D-backs in the same season of 2017 - just not that game against the Tigers, unfortunately. Tickets to see the Honey Hunters start at $8, and run as high as $17 for the homeplate box seats...